Global Patent Index - EP 4276496 A1

EP 4276496 A1 20231115 - PHOTON COUNTING DETECTOR AND PHOTON COUNTING METHOD

Title (en)

PHOTON COUNTING DETECTOR AND PHOTON COUNTING METHOD

Title (de)

PHOTONENZÄHLDETEKTOR UND PHOTONENZÄHLVERFAHREN

Title (fr)

DÉTECTEUR DE COMPTAGE DE PHOTONS ET PROCÉDÉ DE COMPTAGE DE PHOTONS

Publication

EP 4276496 A1 20231115 (EN)

Application

EP 22172537 A 20220510

Priority

EP 22172537 A 20220510

Abstract (en)

The present invention relates to a photon counting detector and method. The detector comprises a scintillator (21) configured to convert incident gamma radiation into optical photons; a pixelated photodetector (20, 30) configured to detect the flux of optical photons wherein the pixelated photodetector is a silicon photomultiplier, SiPM, detector, wherein each photodetector pixel comprises an array of silicon avalanche photo diodes, SPADs; and circuitry (23, 90) configured to carry out, per photodetector pixel, the steps of controlling a stop timing at which one or more functions of the photodetector pixel are stopped; determining a first photon count by accumulating the number of optical photons detected by the SPADs of the respective photodetector pixel from the start of an integration period up to the stop timing; and estimating a second photon count based on the first photon count and the stop timing, the second photon count representing an estimate of the photon count for the total integration period.

IPC 8 full level

G01T 1/17 (2006.01)

CPC (source: EP)

G01T 1/17 (2013.01); G01T 1/20184 (2020.05)

Citation (applicant)

Citation (search report)

Designated contracting state (EPC)

AL AT BE BG CH CY CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR GB GR HR HU IE IS IT LI LT LU LV MC MK MT NL NO PL PT RO RS SE SI SK SM TR

Designated extension state (EPC)

BA ME

Designated validation state (EPC)

KH MA MD TN

DOCDB simple family (publication)

EP 4276496 A1 20231115; WO 2023217584 A1 20231116

DOCDB simple family (application)

EP 22172537 A 20220510; EP 2023061521 W 20230502